Godfrey, William

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GODFREY, WILLIAM

Cardinal, seventh archbishop of Westminster; b. Liverpool, Sept. 25, 1889; d. London, Jan. 22, 1963. The younger son of George and Maria (Garvey) Godfrey, he was educated at Ushaw College and at the English College in Rome. After ordination (1916) he gained his doctorate in theology (1917) before returning to England. He taught successively classics, philosophy, and theology at Ushaw between 1918 and 1930 and then served as rector of the English College in Rome from 1930 to 1938. Appointed the first apostolic delegate to Great Britain, Gibraltar, Malta, and Bermuda (1938), he fulfilled this difficult assignment with notable tact. Godfrey was archbishop of Liverpool from 1953 until 1956, when he succeeded Cardinal griffin at Westminster. To this position he brought wide experience, and in it he distinguished himself by his gentleness, dignity, deep spirituality, broad sympathy, and inflexibility on matters of principle. His publications, The Young Apostle (1924) and God and Ourselves (1928), reflected his constant preoccupation with priestly education and the care of souls. He was raised to the cardinalate in 1958.

Bibliography: d. worlock, Wiseman Review 237 (196364) 315.

[d. milburn]